EDITORnThomas FlemingnASSOCIATE EDITORnTheodore PappasnSENIOR EDITOR, BOOKSnChilton Williamson, ]r.nEDITORIAL ASSISTANTnEmily Grant AdamsnART DIRECTORnAnna Mycek-WodeckinCONTRIBUTING EDITORSnJohn W. Aldridge, Harold O.].nBrown, Samuel Francis, GeorgenGarrett, Russell Kirk, E. ChristiannKopff, Clyde WilsonnCORRESPONDING EDITORSnJanet Scott Barlow, Odie Faulk,nJane Greer, John Shelton ReednEDITORIAL SECRETARYnLeann DobbsnPUBLISHERnAllan C. CarlsonnASSOCIATE PUBLISHERnMichael WardernPUBLICATION DIRECTORnGuy C. ReffettnCOMPOSITION MANAGERnAnita FedoranCIRCULATION MANAGERnRochelle FranknA publication of The Rockford Institute.nEditorial and Advertising Offices: 934 NorthnMain Street, Rockford, IL 61103.nEditorial Phone: (815) 964-5054.nAdvertising Phone: (815) 964-5811.nSubscription Department: P.O. Box 800, MountnMorris, IL 61054. Call 1-800-435-0715.nFor information on advertising in Chronicles,nplease call Cathy Corson at (815) 964-5811.nU.S.A. Newsstand Distribution by Eastern NewsnDistributors, Inc., 1130 Cleveland Road,nSandusky, OH 44870.nCopyright © 1991 by The Rockford Institute.nAll rights reserved.nChronicles (ISSN 0887-5731) is publishednmonthly for $24 per year by The RockfordnInstitute, 934 North Main Street, Rockford, ILn61105-7061. Second-class postage paid atnRockford, IL and additional mailing offices.nPOSTMASTER: Send address changes tonChronicles, P.O. Box 800, Mount Morris, ILn61054.nThe views expressed in Chronicles are thenauthors’ alone and do not necessarily reflect thenviews of The Rockford Institute or of itsndirectors. Unsolicited manuscripts cannot benreturned unless accompanied by a self-addressednstamped envelope.nChroniclesnI H1C«ZINE OF AMEIICAN- CUITUREn4/CHRONlCLESnVol. 15, No. 10 October 1991nPOLEMICS & EXCHANGESnOn The Broken Promisenof American Life’nI was born and raised, educated fromnthe first grade of grammar schoolnthrough the fourth year of college, innMonmouth, capitol city of WarrennCounty, Illinois, 120 miles southwest ofnRockford. My most enduring and livelynmemory of the Maple City is of thensaying, “A Swede is a Nigger turnedninside out,” an aphorism intended to beninsulting and as offensive to the ColorednPeople as to the Scandinavians. When Inread an article such as Mr. Fleming’sn”The Broken Promise of AmericannLife” (Perspective, July 1991) I feel thatnI must be missing something. I don’tnunderstand how an attempt to revive innMonmouth a utopia of the Good Daysnof Yesteryear that never, in fact, existed,nwill help us to solve the current politicalnand social problems of the UnitednStates.nOne more memory does emergenfrom the mist and murk of the past. Onnthe night of December 6, l941, thencitizens of Monmouth went to sleepnsafe in the knowledge that they hadnnothing to fear from Hirohito becausenthey had been assured by Colonel RobertnMcCormick of the Chicago Tribunenthat the Japanese would nevernsend out a fleet to challenge the mightnof the American Navy.n— The Rev. Roland ThorwaldsennBeaumont, CAnOn ‘GeorgetownnUniversity’nJerry Russell’s article (Cultural Revolutions,nAugust 1991) was most appropriate.nAs a 1943 Protestant graduate ofnGeorgetown, I treasure, the memoriesnof that university, with its real Catholicnphilosophy. Through the years, however,nI have seen the liberal-left andnalmost Marxist takeover of a once greatnschool.nThe alumni publication is nothingnmore or less than a propaganda hymn tonsocial welfare and socialist foreign poliÂÂnnncy. You can expect to find all thenbleeding hearts’ photos or quotations onnpage after page. That GU should evennquote Senator Kennedy, let alone shownhis picture, says much for how lownGU’s moral judgment has fallen.n— Vincent W. AllennMelbourne Beach, FLnOn ‘Motel California’nWhy was it necessary for John SheltonnReed (Letter From the Lower Right,nMay 1991) to take a cheap shot at BobnJones University? (“I feel about Californianthe way some of my Baptist friendsnfeel about Bob Jones University, that it’sna caricature of their tradition, an exaggerationnof some of its features to thenpoint of ugliness.”) Since Bob JonesnUniversity is not a Baptist university,nwhy should Baptists feel one way ornanother about the institution? Whyndidn’t you use Methodists, or Nazarenes,nor Brethren, or anybody elseninstead of Baptists? I am not a Baptist,nbut the ones I know think Bob JonesnUniversity is a fine school. (And no, Inam not an alumnus of Bob Jones.) Inthink you were in California too longnand have come back with some strangenthoughts.nThe May 1991 issue of Chroniclesnwas entitled: “Conservative MovementnR.LP.?” No wonder, with articles likenthe ones Mr. Reed writes.n—Richard M. BirchnMarianna, PAnMr. Reed Replies:nIt’s quite possible — in fact, it’s likely—nthat I have the wrong Baptist friends,nbut what I wrote accurately summarizesntheir opinion of BJU. My own benignnview of the place was presented in thesenpages (“Dr. Bob’s Unusual University,”nMay 1986). Those who don’t keepnback issues can find the essay reprintednin Whistling Dixie: Dispatches Fromnthe South (University of MissourinPress).n
January 1975April 21, 2022By The Archive
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